Hello All,

Here's the first chapter of my next story. Sorry for the long delay but things have been a mite busy since the holidays. I had some trouble finding a good starting point for this one so I hope y'all like it. Enjoy and please R&R!

-Moki

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A great battle was being waged in the Serenity cockpit. Two mortal enemies faced each other as they had many times before and both wore wounds from this and previous tussles. Each circled round the other, ready to strike again if their opponent wavered for even a moment. Such a fight had yet to be seen on this ship and that was saying something considering how many battles she had seen on her decks. Much blood had been spilled in her gullet but none like that which would be evident when these two were done with each other.

Suddenly one of the combatants charged and being just a mite quicker than the other was able to get the upper hand. Within seconds the unlucky one found himself down and unable to move as the faster of the two now pinned him to the ground.

The pinned warrior snarled and growled as he tried to wrestle out from the other's mighty grip. But the one on top was now taking full advantage of his position and didn't give in one tiny bit and instead increased his grip on the other, causing the downed combatant to begin to weaken.

Just when it seemed like the battle was over Captain Mal walked in and ruined the whole gorram thing.

"Wash!" Mal hollered.

Jumping about six feet out of his chair, Wash cursed a rather round oath in Chinese. Knowing full well he'd been caught red-handed he still tried hastily to put away the toy dinosaurs that had so recently been battling to the death. This caused more unwanted attention as both dropped to the floor in his clumsy attempt to put them back on the console. The resulting clatter only made Mal to stare harder at his recalcitrant pilot with hands on hips and one boot tapping on the deck impatiently.

"What in the gorram hell do you think you're doing? Near as I can tell we're about to hit atmo and I come in here to find you fussin' with those gorram toys?" Mal growled.

"Sorry Mal," Wash said sheepishly but not exactly guiltily. "You know I can fly this ship with one hand so there's really no need to make a fuss."

"Well it might be that you have the learnin' to fly my boat one-handed but I can't reckon how it is you think you can fly with NO hands" Mal was not really angry and both of them knew it but he still had to act "captain-y" from time to time to remind everyone who was boss. With that proper show of the chain of command Mal sat down in the co-pilot's chair and relaxed as Wash got to work setting the landing sequence.

As Wash worked, he thought about how much had changed between himself and Mal since their awful visit with Niska not that long ago. An involuntary shudder ran down his spine as he thought of the torture that he and Mal endured at that man's hands. But ever since then things were better and perhaps he should be grateful for that. Not that he and Mal ever fought or were antagonistic towards each other. But there was no denying that there had always been something a little awkward between them after he and Zoe began dating and finally fell in love and got married.

But that time on Niska's space station had done something for them. They were tortured within an inch of their lives. But it was as if when the screams were torn from their beaten bodies, so had been the ridge lying silently between them. Wash knew that Mal had continued the conversation about Zoe to keep him alive but he didn't think that Mal knew what that quick thinking would do for them in the future. He was sure that Mal hadn't been thinking much beyond the immediate future of that moment, which had been simply to stay alive.

As they fought and shouted they also writhed and screamed in agony. Agony that was not only physical but mental as well. Brought about by the pain each man felt for not being able to have the entirety of the woman they both loved, separately and differently. Zoe needed both of them in her life and both of them knew it. Yet both of them had secretly resented the other for it. What they finally were able to do, at the hands of the little man who brought them such pain, was to get it all out in the open finally. Maybe thinking that they might die that day had made them brave enough at last to voice what each had wanted to say to the other man.

Zoe needed both of them in her life because each of them fulfilled different needs and neither could do what both could do together. In Wash Zoe got a lover, a friend and someone who brought her happiness and laughter. In Mal she had a leader, a confidant and someone who helped her to stay and strong and tenacious. In many ways Wash and Mal were like two halves of one man. At least what would be one man for Zoe. Other women might be able to find the same man to fulfill all her needs but Zoe wasn't built like that. She could never have a man be a part of what made her so strong and then be his lover and giggle with him when they were in the privacy of their bunk.

Zoe knew this all along but it took Wash and Mal awhile to figure it out on their own. Now that they had they were better friends for it. No longer was there this indescribable something preventing the two men from having a friendship that they both wanted and in fact, needed.

So it was with complete trust and comfort that the two of them sat in silence on the bridge of Serenity. Mal idly watched the stars outside and Wash continued to flip switches, bringing the ship down into the planet's atmosphere.

"So," Mal said after awhile finally. "Do you think the girls are gonna enjoy having all us menfolk gone for a little while and havin' the ship all to themselves?"

"Well," Wash replied. "To be fair they're not exactly going to be without ALL the menfolk. After all Simon will still be here"

Mal just stared at him and Wash laughed.

"Oh c'mon Mal, be nice!" Wash said.

"I ain't being mean I'm just being truthful" Mal replied. "That boy is a fine doc but it ain't like they're gonna have any protection with just him around."

"Oh yeah right," Wash replied. "Like with Zoe on board anyone needs protecting. Besides do you think I'd be any better?"

"Well maybe you got a point there," Mal replied with a wry grin. "Perhaps the girls'll be better off with the doc on board than they would with our very own coward of a pilot."

"Very funny," Wash replied laughingly, not taking any offence. Wash not being much of a warrior was well known but it was also well known that when the going got tough, tough got Wash.

Mal would never forget that it was Wash who decided to come back to Niska's station to rescue him and took the whole crew with him when he did it. Grinning snidely at his pilot, he got up out of the co-pilot's seat.

"I'm gonna go check on shuttle two. Your bags all packed?" Mal asked as he rose.

"Yep, did that last night. Just gotta get them out of my bunk." Wash replied.

"Good. See you down there" Mal said on his way out.

Wash continued with the landing sequence and thought about how he would miss his ship (and his wife too of course) for the next few days. Every four years a registered pilot had to get re-tested to keep their license up to date. While it was true that Mal's crew tended to do more clandestine than legitimate work, an actual licensed pilot was still necessary many times. When they did happen upon some work that would put them into Alliance territory they had to have all their paperwork in order. That included Wash's pilot's license. Truthfully Wash didn't mind much. Going to the testing facilities and getting a chance to hang with other pilots, tell stories and learn some new techniques always piqued his interest. So while he would miss his ship and everyone on it, he was happy to get out for a little on his own.

Mal had timed it so that they could take Serenity to dry dock while Wash was getting licensed. Kaylee was as happy as she could be as for next few days she would have a crew helping her to get Serenity back into tip-top shape. It was a constant struggle in their line of work to keep the ship in working order and Kaylee was always jury-rigging things together on the fly. But they had some great jobs recently and Mal was paying for some real work to be done to their beloved ship.

Shepherd Book had decided to go on sabbatical while the ship was docked and they had dropped him off a couple days earlier on an outer planet to convene with some of his Order. Jayne had figured that if the ship was down and most everyone was leaving then he would too. As soon as they landed he was heading off to a brothel near the docks. No one expected to see him for at least a few days, or until his money ran out. Whichever came first.

Simon and River couldn't really travel anywhere considering they were fugitives and all so they were simply going to stay aboard. Inara had decided to take a vacation of sorts herself and purposely didn't book any clients on this planet. She was going to stay aboard with all the girls (and Simon) as a bit of a holiday. The girls were all pretty excited about having the ship pretty much to themselves.

As for himself, Mal was going to hitch a ride with Wash in shuttle two to the other side of the planet and meet up with some old friends. When he found out that Wash's training was to take place on this planet and near to some old war buddies, he called them up and arranged to meet. Once Wash was done he would meet up with Mal and they would both head back to Serenity. All in all, everyone was looking forward to their vacations.